Our country is no longer controlled by, and for, We the People, but instead by, and on behalf of, international banking and multinational corporate interests. While the gradual, almost imperceptible takeover of our government by this corporate fascism has been evolving by design for many decades, it is a coup d'etat nonetheless and has been disastrous for the vast majority of Americans. This blog is an exploration and discussion of how this occurred, and the damage it has done to our democratic processes.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Our environment is being dramatically transformed in ways that soon will make it difficult for the human species to survive. We must direct our energies toward building sustainable, local communities to weather the coming crisis, since we will be unable to survive and resist without a cooperative effort. The liberal class, which clings to the decaying ideologies used to justify globalism and imperialism, which has refused to defy the exploitation or galvanize behind militants to halt the destruction of the ecosystem, has become a useless appendage. The decimation of our manufacturing base, the rise of the corporate state, and the contamination of our environment could have been fought by militant movements and radicals, but with these voices banished, there were no real impediments to the self-destructive forces of corporate power. --- Chris Hedges, Death of the Liberal Class (New York: Nation Books, 2010), 194

We're precariously close to reaching a point of no return, a tipping-point where there's no looking back; where the environment is in dire jeopardy, due to climatic changes fueled by runaway corporate greed and myopic visions of unsustainable growth and profit at any cost. Living within ecosystems where we've created unforeseen levels of unbalance, the accelerating economic devastation of global capitalism...globalization...will shortly be matched by ecological devastation. With increasingly dramatic changes caused by global warning, coupled with economic despair, communities will fragment and disintegrate from internal chaos and division. Gradual, turning to certain, economic collapse will happen sooner than later, if we don't stop rearranging the deck chairs and start averting this mothership from a collision course with disaster. That's what assuredly awaits us, and in the very near future, if major paradigm shifts are not acknowledged and implemented -- soon.

Maybe it's going to take the foresight and stewardship of Bolivia's recently passed law that gives Mother Earth, and all living things and ecosystems and natural resources, the same recognizable rights that transformed humankind since Locke's universal and self-evident natural,orinalienable, rights of man found traction and footing in the 17th century. A passage toward, and through, another enlightenment may be all that separates us from the worst of Dante's Inferno. The Bolivian document speaks of the country's natural resources as "blessings", and grants the Earth a series of specific rights that include rights to life, water and clean air; the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities, and the right to be free from human-created pollution. A Ministry of Mother Earth is proposed, and provides the planet with an ombudsman whose job is to hear nature's complaints as voiced by activist groups and other organizations, including the state itself. Bolivia's ambassador to the United Nations, speaking of the nation's law, said "If you want to have balance, and you think that the only (entities) who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance? But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and (if you provide) legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance." In 2008, prior to Bolivia's Earth-protection law, Ecuador became the first nation in the world to rewrite their Constitution to include rights for nature to exist, flourish and evolve.

But this idea must not be restricted; it needs to grow and find realization here, in the United States, and in other developed and developing nations of the world. For example, last November, the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became the first in the nation to assert the rights of communities and nature over those of corporations when it passed a city ordinance banning the practice of "shale fracking" within city limits. In addition, nearly two-dozen U.S. municipalities have passed similar ordinances, finding that existing laws are unable to protect their local ecosystems. Canadian communities are wondering if legally recognizing rights for nature can halt the privatization of their public water systems and stop tar sands extraction in the fragile Alberta region. For the last two decades, the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy (POCLAD) has advocated such grassroots and local organization and legal advocacy in stemming the tide of corporate prerogative through the challenging of the existing corporate paradigm which manipulates our democratic processes.

Other organizations that have changed tactics, like the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), used to work within the body of existing environmental law -- helping affected residents file lawsuits or appeal corporate permits -- to protect communities from environmental damage. Over time it became apparent this was only playing into the corporate game, and that the only viable strategy was to rewrite local laws to effectively give communities legal authority to say "no" to unwanted corporate activities, recognize the rights of nature, and strip corporations of their constitutional rights. To solidify this approach, democracy schools are a key piece of community organizing, and CELDF promotes and provides one-to-three day intensive seminars that examine how communities across the U.S. are beginning to demand local control to protect the rights of their communities.

The fight for survival has moved from Locke's natural rights, to the even more encompassing understanding by our southern neighbors that trying to protect their land and their people from exploitation is crucial to saving the planet and our species from annihilation. Once the shift in consciousness takes root, and people everywhere see the moral imperative that confronts them, I'm hopeful that restoration of our fragile world and all its magnificent beings and ecosystems will find balance and equilibrium through systemic processes that nurture instead of destroy, and replenish instead of consume. Because if this mindset doesn't form a taproot to grow and expand, we're truly doomed to extinction. There's no other recourse. Otherwise, Hedges's final chapter of Death of the Liberal Class, "Rebellion", is as sure to occur as the sun rising in the east. What choice do we have? Now you must make a decision.

Happy and blessed Beltane to all this May 1st! Let's continue to celebrate the fertility of spring and the greening of the earth, so we may all live; and live peacefully and in harmony with the only home we have -- Earth.

Watch the following interview of Vandana Shiva on GritTV: Understanding the Corporate Takeover. "The American people should see that corporations have abandoned them long ago", says scientist, environmentalist, and food justice activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, named one of the seven most influential women in the world by Forbes magazine. "The people will have to rebuild democracy as a living democracy."

10 comments:

I think this is absolutely true, but as yet the majority does not grasp this. Aside from increasing our peaceful activism to maximum, people need to start using whatever space they have to grow things - yesterday. Even if you can just manage big pots of dirt on a patio or balcony, you can grow all kinds of things. When the dollar crashes, our economy is going to be way worse off than people now realize. The cost of food will skyrocket.The answer is partnering with nature to produce as much as we can sustainably, in a way that preserves the planet for future generations. For people that have yards, even 1/4 acre can produce an astounding amount of food. Get rid of that useless lawn and put in a garden. Next year at this time, you're going to be very glad you did!

Anna, most people have no idea that the wheels are in motion toward a U.S. Dollar collapse. The situation does look bleak and it seems only just a matter of time, doesn't it? Here's a video of what one scenario could look like. It makes your recommendation to start growing a garden even more imperative, since it seems to be just a matter of when...not if.

Yes, I agree, Dr. Shiva's an absolutely amazing person! She's a defender of the common people in her country and has written extensively about environmental issues, and women's issues, that have a profound impact not only for India, but in a broader context, our whole world community.

Jefferson's Guardian ~~ Wow! That was a scary video about a possible dollar collapse.

One thing gave me pause though - the little boy's t-shirt (he was standing in the supermarket) with Obama's "Hope" face on it, and the surrounding shelves empty.

I think this video has been made overly scary - FEAR is the weapon of the right and I suspect there is right-wing influence - or malific influence behind this.

I went to look for something more down to earth (as I see it), with less hyperbole and found this, which isn't encouraging but certainly not as outright scary.

http://useconomy.about.com/od/criticalssues/p/dollar_collapse.htm

There have been scares throughout past decades for one reason or another. The internet spreads fear more than was ever possible in past decades. I believe we should always be on our guard, yet remain level-headed. Many fears of the past never materialised - or if they did, in much milder form. I suspect this is what will happen here.....a milder form of what is feared.

Good morning Twilight! I linked through to Ms. Amadeo article and agree that she softens the potential repercussions of a dollar collapse. But one sentence reverberated with me, and it coincided with the stark image of the empty grocery store shelves and the violence in the streets, when she threw in the following caveat: "Update your passport, in case things get so bad for so long that you need to move quickly to another country."

Certainly, there are many messages from the Right that play on this exact theme, and the Internet exacerbates the spreading of these messages. But, it can't be denied that there are many forces in play right now that could create a "perfect storm", of sorts -- sooner than later. I think the underlying message, from all, is be prepared for the worst (and hope for the best).

A matter of when and not if.....I often wonder how long the establishment can keep this illusion of a working economy going. I live in an area that is supposedly doing better than most places and we still see few people shopping in food stores, fewer and fewer people driving on the roads and employment opportunities for living wage jobs nonexistent. I guess all the young people should just join the military since that will soon be the only employer. As for the rest of us we need to board phantom ships with phantom sails and set sea on phantom tides to a phantom place where we can start over !!! It sure won't be pretty in Amerika when the shit hits the fan !!

I know it's boring as hell, but it's right here! The audacity!

And the fourth branch owns the other three...

If only he were there, that summer of 1787...

"By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline." ..........Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Donald, February 7, 1788, Papers, 12:571

"Few would argue that corporations today are not only ubiquitous but have enormous power over our lives. Was it always like this? How did it get to be this way? And what are the implications of this situation for democracy? … Indeed, so much power and wealth has been amassed by corporations that they can be said to govern, presenting a mortal threat to our body politic. To use a medical analogy, when a surgeon cuts out a cancer, it's not to punish the cancer, it's to save the body. If we wish to prevent the total demise of democracy - rule by the people - then we must return corporations to their subservient role."